While it was a one-sided bout, Longo isn’t focusing on the negatives. Instead, he commends his pupil for putting on a gutsy display in a fight he took on a day’s notice – and without the promise of the actual title if he had won.

“As a coach I’m blown away because I don’t even know how he did it,” Longo told MMAjunkie Radio about Iaquinta. “That was just will and determination you were watching in there – coupled with a guy who’s very technically skilled.

“But for me, it was like, ‘Wow, what if we really trained for five rounds, man?’ It would’ve been a totally different ballgame.”

Nurmagomedov’s original opponent, Tony Ferguson, was forced off the card due to a freak injury. UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway then stepped in, but during his weight cut on fight week, he was ruled medically ineligible to compete. Felder offered to step in, but the New York State Athletic Commission also ruled him ineligible because he was deemed to be not ranked high enough to make the fight competitive. That opened the door for Iaquinta, who had just a day to prepare for a totally different fight against a renowned wrestler. Iaquinta also had the sting of knowing he wouldn’t be the official champ since he weighed in .2 pounds over the championship limit – because his official weigh-in came when he thought he was still fighting Felder and getting the one-pound allowance for non-title fights.

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So, in a lot of ways, the deck was stacked against Iaquinta, who – as Longo pointed out – had just 98 seconds of cage time in the three years that preceded UFC 223. Still, despite losing badly on the scorecards, he went the distance with one of the sport’s most dominant fighters.

“How he even went five rounds is bizarre to me,” Longo said. “The kid is just a really special kid. He has attributes you can’t teach a fighter. As a coach, I can’t teach him what happened in there that night. He’s born with it. He’s a fighter. He loves what he does.

“I’ve got nothing but the utmost respect for Khabib. I love his team. I love him. I love the way he speaks. He’s a true warrior, and I think two guys went in there, they fought, and they put it all on the line. I think there’s a mutual respect, and they both gained (experience) from each other that will last a lifetime.”